by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 132
December : 2012

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
 e-mail

CHAPTER 132

PATANJALIYOGASUTRA ANALYSIS OF DISTRACTION AND DETACHMENT

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

QUESTION 1 FROM
SRI PRADYOT

Guruji, I am a regular reader of our scriptures. But can not say that I have understood all that is talked about in them.

ANSWER: 

It depends upon whether you are driven by only a need to learn or you are inspired enough to learn. Role of Inspiration in learning is like the breath in life. Uninspired you gather information. When inspired you learn. Inspiration comes with the excitement of being totally identified with the subject. As long as there are traces of doubts and suspicion, you do not identify with the subject. You may gather a lot of information about the subject but you do not learn the truth that lies buried deep in the subject. You can stand back on a sea shore and learn a lot about the ocean, but you experience the ocean only when you are inspired enough to plunge yourself in.

 Even after all the methods of acquiring knowledge like studying, seeing, listening, only that much knowledge seeps into our antahkarana for which we have prepared ourself by identifying ourself with the object of knowledge. Reasoning comes later. The first step is faith and an unqualified expectation.

 QUESTION 2 FROM
SRI PRADYOT
God and weakness of mind

I have another question. They say God enters the mind when the mind is weak. Does that mean that God is the resort of only the weak minded?

ANSWER: .Ofcourse many people think that way. Let us analyse. What is weakness? It is the state where we are confronted with a situation about which we do not have knowledge to tackle. Weakness could be at physical, mental or psychic level but the reason is the same. All knowledge flows from a source which we identify as Brahman.

Why did the weakness set in? Because we got ourselves distanced from knowledge-source. That is Brahman, God or whatever name you give it. Knowledge alone gives strength. That is why even subconsciously we reach out to God when we cannot fathom what to do. It always works when practiced with sincerity. There may not be a scientific proof yet known to us. But experience proves. Those who resort to this, invariably become enabled to face life with ease and confidence. God is not the outcome of a weak mind, but all human weakness – nay weakness in every soul is the outcome of denial of God consciousness. Very significant here is the cry of thesAdhak as articulated in our scripture:

MA aham Brahma nirAkuryAm
MA mA Brahma nirAkarot
anirAkaranam sat u anirAkaranam me astu

May I not reject Brahman. May not Brahman reject me. Let there be norejection or non acceptance by me of Brahman

QUESTION 3 FROM
SRI NIRAJHINGORANI
THE QUESTIONING MIND

If all the knowledge is within me and all questions are answered when Brahman is known, why does the mind gets tortured with questions after questions? Is there no shorter way to achieve Brahmahood?

ANSWER: The shortest way known to mankind is yoga and the most important tool if not the only tool, available to mankind for yoga is the mind. To achieve the objective the tool has to be applied. Every tool can be applied rightly or wrongly. To be able to apply the tool rightly one must have a clear vision of the end product and expertise of wielding the tool.

As far as the end product goes, the picture is so vast that it is impossible to have a total picture until who knows how much time one must spend. At any limited time and space we can only hope to get a limited view. You as a soul get one view, I as one soul get one view, someone as some other soul gets another view and when we piece our views together we get a broader picture. We do that by exchanging our knowledge with each other through asking and answering. That is the way the divine principles come to play. We are all here to achieve our objective collectively, and never in isolation. If I do not ask questions of you, how else I shall know what knowledge you might have acquired and get assisted in the process?

The same thing also applies to the use of mind. When the mind acquires the added power and the knowledge received from others is accepted we decide the next step. A yogi is ever full of amazement as a child never is and never stops asking questions as a child does not. The answers are all around us. But it needs our efforts to go after them.

Some say that ‘there is no need for any question, and there is no need for any answer. The divine principles ensure that eventually all knowledge will be acquired by all.’ This is true only when understood in its right perspective. The very quest of knowledge is impossible without an ever questioning mind. The very springboard of yoga is vismay; the childlike sense of wonder about all that The Lord is unfolding before us all the time from time immemorial. This amazement, this wonder, this vismayhas triggered the very progress of mankind and shall continue to do so. In utter innocent amazement the mind asks questions. Answers are revealed, knowledge is gained only when questions are asked.

No question is meaningless. What appears in the beginning as meaningless becomes profound in the end through gradual revelation. We have the classic case of Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. The journey from irrelevance ( chapter 2.11) to the end of all illusion ( chapter 18.77). is the story of all seekers.

Whether the enquiry of ‘who?’ (kena) in the Kena Upanishad or the series of questions to Pippalada and answers revealed in the Prasna Upanishad or the enquiring mind of Saunaka asking ‘which is that when known everything becomes known?’ in the MundakaUpanishad, the process of seeking answers by questioning  has been always regarded as the trigger for acquiring the highest spiritual knowledge.

Nurturing a constantly questioning mind without any inhibitions or qualification is the characteristic of a seeker.

QUESTION 4 FROM
MR STANLEY S
SENSUAL PLEASURE

QUESTION: Hindus belive that sensual pleasure especially sexual acts are part of spiritual practice. What is your view?

 ANSWER: The  Bhagavad Gita, one of the authoritative sources of sanAtanphilosophy ( loosely understood as Hindu philosophy) states:

Sahayajnah prajah srstva purovaca prajapatih anena pras visyadvam

In the beginning, the Lord of all beings having created this cosmic endevour along with the ‘beings’, said ‘by this shall you propagate’.

Propagation is the essential requirement of nature to sustain the creation and for propagation, union between male and female entities (act of sex) is necessary. For the continuation of propagation, urge and pleasure in sex are inherent in the beings and is built into their system so that one must not abhor sex per se.

The primary – nay only – purpose of sex is procreation, so that the continuation of life goes on. Sex viewed from the angle of purely sensual pleasure is an aberration of this purpose.

All actions ordained by the Divine within this mahayajna (cosmic endevour) is associated with a great need for a sense of responsibility. You are responsible for your actions and the result thereof. Propagation combined with parenthood is also a serious responsibility.  You not only produce life but also assume a great responsibility towards protection, development and upward evolution of the embodied soul. You are instrumental for that soul in coming to take a life form. That is the way you discharge your responsibility towards the Divine purpose. The sanAtan philosophy meticulously codifies the responsibility of parenthood.

When this responsibility is understood, indulgence in sex for pleasure or for any other purpose vanishes from the mind. Sex for recreation is an irresponsible act.

A high sense of responsibility is in itself a deterrent to frivolous action including sex.

This is also the original thought behind a planned family. One must assess first the responsibility and the capability for discharging that responsibility before creating a human being. Failing to do that because of foolish indulgence is betraying that divine purpose.

QUESTION 5
FROM SRI VISHNU AMIN
Hindus visiting places of worship of other faiths

Sir: Do you visit churches, mosques, gurdwaras etc? What should be a Hindu’s attitude towards these places?

 ANSWER:

Sanatan philosophy (hindu as generally understood) has made a very profound proclamation right from the dawn of human consciousness. It says:

Isavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca jagatyAm jagat.

The entire universe is the domain of Brahman who pervades everything that is around us. A temple, a church, a mosque or a gurdwara was not built to house that all pervasive Brahman. It is foolish to think that God remains confined or imprisoned in them. For a sAdhak who is truly after satchidAnannada- the absolute truth, its realization and the ensuing bliss- God is everywhere. That is the broader and essential understanding of God’s omnipresence.

Temples, churches etc are simply assisting props for harnessing the mind’s distractions. They greatly assist in the formative stages ofsAdhanA. The physical concentration of spiritual and religious vibrations from so many minds congregating at a place of worship, act as a great psychological factor and during that stage their influence cannot be undermined. But a sAadhak soon outgrows it or should strive to transcend them moving towards freedom of mind that enlightenment brings. Even they become bondages which should be recognized and discarded. That will be true liberation. Because of the improper understanding it might create, unless guided properly all religions urge us to remain faithful to institutions until the right time comes.

In line with Sri Aurobindo’s thoughts one must understand that asAdhak is not a devotee of a faith or a scripture or a God. He is the devotee of the Infinite.

Walls and ceilings of temples, churches, mosques or gurdwaras or their ornate coverings cannot hold back God. Even if the chantings, sermons, prayers are performed within those four walls, the vibrations waft out far and wide to benefit each and everyone.

Listen and feel carefully. A true chanting, singing, praying or reading out is essentially about satchidAnanda. When it reaches your antahkarana (inner faculties), even if you are not within those four walls, but your mind dwells upon that experience, it is immaterial from which book it is being read out, in which language it is being spoken or sung. It still takes you closure to Brahman consciousness. The long established truth does not change.

Spiritualism is all about the fundamental realization and ecstacy:

Isavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca jagatyAm jagat

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